That night I decided that I/ we need to get out more... in the name of research :o). Every Friday I'm in town or even out of town, I'd like to try a different restaurant and see how they handle gluten free. This is the first of hopefully many Friday Restaurant Reviews.
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| Image from cityrover.com |
Grendel's Den sits snugly beneath Upstairs on the Square in Harvard Square. We chose this place as our first outing because of an internet rumor saying they had new types of gluten free beer. Just before diagnosis I was on a one woman wheat beer tour. I'd buy a six pack on Monday and kill it by the weekend. This is probably what was making me so sick... Unfortunately, they didn't have the Saxon Beer I came for, but they did have Original Sin Hard Cider on tap. They also have a fairly extensive gluten free menu, which includes baked hot wings! Grendel's has a nice bar/ restaurant area and outdoor seating. Mike and I, of course, chose the outdoor seating.
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| Gluten Free Hot Wings at Grendel's |
For dinner I had the La La's Grill with Chicken, a baked potato and Mediterranean Salad. It was really good and I had absolutely no reaction, even with all the dairy.
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| La La's Grill - Chicken |
I would definitely recommend Grendel's to anyone looking for a nice gluten free dinner in Harvard Square. The waitress fully understood gluten free, the food was good and the cider was cold and tasty.
Becky,
ReplyDeleteAfter trying out Saxon Beer at Grendel's, I did some googling and all evidence suggested that the amount of gluten in Saxon (and in Estrella's gluten-free offerring (which I've found at Lower Depths in Kenmore and at the Wine & Cheese Cask)) is roughly equivalent to that in Heineken Light or Amstel—with the ppm gluten content in all the aforementioned being substantially below WHO's 20ppm threshold (about which: http://www.glutenfreedietitian.com/newsletter/how-much-gluten-is-20-parts-per-million/). Just something to take into account if/when you come across deglutenized "gluten-free" beer. (Shortly after my Saxon experience, I did test out Amstel, and all was well. More recently, I (very skeptically) tried a Narragansett at Flatbread, and that turned out fine too.) But alas, I've never come across any deglutenized wheat beers (years ago, I too was very into wheat beer). Tangentially, for the non-barley-derived gluten-free beers, I've found that Shaw's has a surprisingly good selection: Bard's, New Grist, Redbridge, as well as all three of Green's North American offerings.
Andi
There is at least one study that has tested the gluten content of mainstream beers (those that claim to be low-gluten) and found the gluten content to be high: http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=660140
ReplyDeleteWhile I have sampled at least one gluten-free beer derived from barley (Estrella), this is different from a beer like Heineken/Amstel that does not claim to "de-glutenize" anything. Only beers like Bard's, etc. derived from non-gluten containing grains are considered safe for celiacs.